While the majority of the site is free, Premium Stories are available to members for a small fee. Premium access can be purchased in increments of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. We'll take a look at each of the stories that can be found in Premium to give you an idea of what is available. Some of our Premium Stories are part of a series. Today we're looking at the Galactic Conspiracies Series by Rob Colton.

 

 

 

 

Lonely spaceport worker Devin McSmith meets Bastian Drago, an exotic and beastly alien from the planet Dega, and begins an adventure that takes him to the stars and beyond.

 

 

 

Former Union Navy scientist, Dr. Aron Adler is ordered on a rescue mission to an outer rim research colony located on an uninhabited planet. He reports to the USC Cassini along with two other scientists and a Union Marines unit. Dishonorably discharged for failure to obey orders, the Cassini crew shuns Aron. He finds comfort in the arms-and bed-of Marine Corporal Kane Robertson. At the colony it becomes apparent all is not what it seems. Once again, Aron must decide: follow orders or his heart.

 

 

 

Peri McSmith is aboard the U.S.C. Cassini. A routine medical exam reveals a startling link between Peri and the Cassini's last mission.

 

Beshel Drago, Chief Investigator for the Degan Federation, searches for leads on the rogue scientists conducting illegal experiments using Degan citizens. He hits another dead end—until the rescued embryo's human parent is identified.

 

 

Series Excerpt: From The Degan Incident

 

I stepped off the magtrain and made my way up the concourse, pushing my way through the crowds of people. I looked up at one of the wall displays and noted the time. I was cutting it close, but I still had a few minutes before my shift.

 

While weaving between a trio of blue-skinned aliens speaking in a foreign tongue, I reached into the pocket of my uniform and pulled my headset out. I looped it over my ear and pressed the silicone nub into my ear canal. I pulled my comPad from the side leg pocket, then slid my finger across the razor-thin flexi-glass screen. The screen came to life with colorful graphics, waiting to scan my thumbprint to log me in. Pressing my thumb against the indicated area flashing on the screen, it dinged with a chime that indicated success, and automatically linked up my headset and signed into the Spaceport network. After the chime, the pleasant female computer voice announced into my ear, Devin McSmith; login successful.

 

With another swipe of my finger, I flipped through my day’s manifest and headed to the first gate on my list to start work.

 

It was the start of my last shift of the week at Spaceport Prime. I loved working at the spaceport. In operation for nearly thirty years, Spaceport Prime was the largest spaceport on Earth’s North American continent. The Spaceport serviced regular shuttles to Spacedock Luna in orbit around the moon, various Union Navy cruisers and shuttles, as well as ships from other star systems.

 

Since Earth joined the Galactic Planetary Union which ended the bloody war with the Mirans, the space trade industry here has grown by leaps and bounds. I feel like I am part of it, right in the middle of everything. Since I was a little boy, I wanted to join the Union Navy. More than anything, I dreamed of flying through space as part of a crew of interstellar explorers.

 

Unfortunately my scores weren’t high enough to qualify entrance and the Union Navy recruiter denied my application.